Posted by Becky
The doctors are still trying to track down the source of Leif's headaches. Based on his symptoms, they are not very concerned that it might be something serious, like bleeding in his brain or a tumor. It could definitely be a confluence of factors - a vicious cycle of tight muscles causing pain causing his muscles to tighten; plus clogged sinuses, low blood counts and mild dehydration (they run transplant patients a bit dry on purpose), lingering pain from his jaw, etc. etc. He has the same nurse he had yesterday, who is committed to staying on top of the pain with whatever drugs are necessary, while everybody continues to try treatments that will get at the source of the problem. They are going to try giving him fluids and blood today. Even mild things like taking a hot shower to unclog his sinuses, and massaging his feet, which also unclogged his sinuses (!), can help ramp things down and get him out of this vicious loop. They just sent in a massage therapist who's working on him now.
His white blood counts are continuing to come up. His neutrophils are 230 today, and his platelets are basically holding steady. His blood counts are likely to bounce around as opposed to rising steadily, but things are looking good.
I asked the doctors how Leif's liver looks, and they were all smiles and said it is doing great - no sign of veno-occlusive disease, and he's unlikely to get it now. Regarding acute Graft-vs-Host Disease, they say it's early for any sign of that to show up now, but it's at equal risk to occur any time during the next 100 days. They're going to talk with the Infectious Disease team today about what antibiotics he should go home with. If his blood counts continue to recover the way they have been, Leif could be discharged as soon as this Friday, Day 16! That is sooner than we were expecting, but we won't complain.
The doctors are still trying to track down the source of Leif's headaches. Based on his symptoms, they are not very concerned that it might be something serious, like bleeding in his brain or a tumor. It could definitely be a confluence of factors - a vicious cycle of tight muscles causing pain causing his muscles to tighten; plus clogged sinuses, low blood counts and mild dehydration (they run transplant patients a bit dry on purpose), lingering pain from his jaw, etc. etc. He has the same nurse he had yesterday, who is committed to staying on top of the pain with whatever drugs are necessary, while everybody continues to try treatments that will get at the source of the problem. They are going to try giving him fluids and blood today. Even mild things like taking a hot shower to unclog his sinuses, and massaging his feet, which also unclogged his sinuses (!), can help ramp things down and get him out of this vicious loop. They just sent in a massage therapist who's working on him now.
His white blood counts are continuing to come up. His neutrophils are 230 today, and his platelets are basically holding steady. His blood counts are likely to bounce around as opposed to rising steadily, but things are looking good.
I asked the doctors how Leif's liver looks, and they were all smiles and said it is doing great - no sign of veno-occlusive disease, and he's unlikely to get it now. Regarding acute Graft-vs-Host Disease, they say it's early for any sign of that to show up now, but it's at equal risk to occur any time during the next 100 days. They're going to talk with the Infectious Disease team today about what antibiotics he should go home with. If his blood counts continue to recover the way they have been, Leif could be discharged as soon as this Friday, Day 16! That is sooner than we were expecting, but we won't complain.
Bummer about the headaches. Very exciting about him possibly going home later this week though!
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